This would not be the Gospel I would have picked today considering the grief that I’m still working my way through. But the truth is, who of us is not touched by grief? We all have to deal with it at some point in our lives. Indeed, we who are disciples can look forward to a lot of grief in this world, which is what Jesus means when he says:
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
The Gospel begins by Jesus pointing out that for a while, the disciples won’t see him, but then a little while later they will see him again, and this would be the cause for their true joy. I think that whenever we grieve much, it is often because we have lost sight of God. Whatever the event that caused our grief, that grief causes us to lose sight of our God. And it hurts a lot because while we weep and mourn, it seems as if all the world is in the throws of joy. We have to grieve, but we must know that by seeing our Jesus again, we will once again experience true joy. The disciple who trusts in God knows this is true. However painful the grief may be, the joy that Jesus provides us will be the greatest joy ever.